Dividend Income

Dividend Investing Success & Net Worth Report – April 2017

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When I first discovered dividend investing a few years ago, I quickly realized this was the investing style for me.  I also realized that dividend investing is not a quick process… at all.  It takes years, decades even, of investing in high quality companies before you see substantial returns in the form of dividend income.  While I am ecstatic with the progress I’m making, this dividend income report is not all that impressive when comparing it to last month’s incredible haul.

Dividend Investing Success (slow and steady)

April is a bit of a slow month for me when it comes to dividend income.  These are the types of months where I look at my dividend income totals and get a bit discouraged.  Fortunately, I have this handy graph that keeps me positive about my progress and the path I’m walking.  As long as I see the monthly dividend income increasing year over year, I know I’m moving in the right direction.

Let’s get to it.

This month, I received $145.40 in dividend income.  On average, I was paid $13.22 from 11 different companies (actually, 10 companies and 1 preferred shares fund)!  This month’s dividend income statement shows a small 4.91% increase over last April.

Dividend Investing Income - April 2017

This month’s dividend covers my: cell phone, internet and gas.  It isn’t much, but it’s free money!

Here is a chart of my passive dividend income progress over the last 2 years.

The dividend portfolio has been updated.

Net Worth

I’ve hit a bit of a milestone this month with regards to our net worth.  However, I don’t feel as excited as I thought I would upon reaching this watershed moment.  Perhaps it’s because most of that money is tied to non-income producing real estate, or perhaps it’s because I know this wealth was generated in most part via good fortune.  That’s not to say I don’t appreciate what I have, because I do – and I made decent decisions investing capital along the way.  But frankly, it’s just great luck that my house is worth 200k more now than when I purchased it six years ago – which clearly represents my largest investment.

Let’s do the numbers…

Cash

The big push that tipped us over the one million mark was a check from our friends at the IRS.  The tax refund I received this year was clearly the catalyst that made the magic happen this month.  Thanks IRS.  (I really should adjust my deductions)

The tax refund this year was enough to max out my wife’s ROTH and have a little bit left over.  I’ve not contributed to my ROTH this year, but will in the next few months.

Real Estate

As I mentioned above, our real estate has played a BIG part in building our wealth.  We’ve been extremely lucky with our initial homes that we were able to turn into rental properties.  It’s not always an easy thing to do – and the returns can be pretty poor.

Actually, poor returns is one of the reasons I’m thinking about selling rental home # 1. I would really like to use that money to pay off our primary home – just not sure that would be a best use of that capital.  At the moment our ROI on rental property #1 is just shy of 2.5% on that property.  Nothing spectacular.  I would love to have our house debt eliminated!

But, the rentals were perfect again this month.  No problems and everyone paid on time!  Gotta love good tenants.

Wrap-up

This month has been a bit of an anti-climatic event.  Breaching the big One is a fantastic achievement and I’m very proud and grateful! However, there is still so much more work to be done with my dividend investing.  I still have a huge horde of cash sitting in my 401k to put to work.  You can check my money in the trough reports (May, April, March), but I’ve been putting roughly 15 – 20k to work for the last few months.  It’s been an exciting time!

 

Do you also find that keeping track of your dividend investing income keeps you motivated during the slow months?

 

I'm a dividend growth investor who is aiming to retire early in 4 years at the age of 45. My goal is to live off the income my dividend portfolio and rental property produce exclusively and leave the corporate rat race. I hope you will join me in this journey!

6 Comments

  1. I hear you, April is very slow for me as well. What keeps me motivated is that I track avg monthly income (12 month fwd projected income divided by 12) across all my holdings, and I record that value the first week of every month. I look back and see how that number has grown over time, and that provides motivation. Also seeing the dividend increases roll in is motivating as well!

    • Blake

      Nice idea with the average forward dividend income. I’ve not tracked forward dividend income at points in time… sounds like it might be worth the effort. While I was writing this, I got curious. I just calculated that I have received almost $5,100 in dividend income over the last 2 years. That 24 months of dividend income is roughly 28% of the 18k of gains I currently show in my portfolio. Cool.

      Thank you for the great suggestion!

  2. Interesting to see how you list up everything you own. Might try that aswell. Gives you an idea of how much “value” you got.

    • Blake

      Hi Stockles,

      Yes, definitely track your net worth. I think the simple process of taking a monthly tally of my assets and liabilities has been the most impactful thing I’ve done for my finances. I can’t stress enough the importance of tracking your monthly net worth!

  3. Cracked over that $1 million mark, that is fantastic, well done to you! You would have to be happy with that right? That is a fantastic milestone. Cheers

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